ALABI 2007–Session 1
For those who have been waiting for reviews of the sessions, I apologize for the tardiness of this review of session 1. I have been pretty busy over the past week. I will try to get the others done as soon as I can. I am a very bad blogger. 
This year’s meeting was not as well attended as last year’s but I think the members that attended really enjoyed it. The Campbellsville University community was very welcoming. The food was good, and the conference room in the new chapel was extremely well suited for the event. I especially enjoyed the tour of the library and special collections that Dr. John Burch, the university librarian, graciously provided for us.
During the first session, Elizabeth Wells of Samford University played a YouTube quality video about disaster preparedness that the library staff at Samford developed for instructing patrons about their disaster plan. It was one of the funniest library related videos I’ve ever seen. Not to be a hater, but Lizz’s vid was much funnier than “The OPAC Sucks.” Following that, Becky Ryder of the University of Kentucky presented a helpful session on disaster preparedness. She described the way that the entire UK library system worked together to create a disaster plan that would cover the entire system. She also told us about several helpful tools that can be used for disaster preparedness. One of the most helpful things she told us was her “top 6 things you need in case of disaster”:
- Rolled Plastic
- Cut Plastic
- Fans
- Dehumidifier
- Towels
- Disposable Camera
Dr. Ryder also demonstrated the proper technique for drying wet photos, damp books, soaking wet books, and muddy soaking wet books. All in all, this was a very helpful session. In the future, it would be nice if we could record either audio or video for some of these sessions. Recording could cause a drop in attendance, but I think the more likely scenario is that when librarians hear the quality of some of the sessions, they will be likely to attend.
